I seem to be losing a larger volume of water in the mash tun lately and while I"m running off it seems to be sucking air once and awhile and bubbling. Looking at the SS braid in my cooler, its all crimped up right where it meets the hose barb. Anyone ever replace the braid? Or would it be better to add a slotted piece of copper tubing inside the braid to keep it open? Or any other solutions?

That's what I would do if I used a SS braid. I just use the sloted copper tube and don't worry about it. After a couple of quarts your wort runs clear ( I do both type sparges, what ever I'm in the mood for).

To answer your post topic question . . yes, I've replaced the braid in my mash tun . .It's simple and quick, and I did it because I reconfigured my manifold slightly.

Questions for you . . How big is the barb?(diameter) Are you using a single length of braid? How long is the braid? What kind of vessel are you using for your MT?

The thing that causes braid to contract is being stretched. Something is pulling on it to make it pinch at the barb. Perhaps a longer piece of braid would lessen the potential of tug stress. Or make a loop with a "T" to have 2 points for the wort to enter.

Palmer talks about manifold configurations in his book as it relates to the flow through the grain bed. I suspect you are loosing a fair amount of efficiency as a result of an inadequate manifold. 6 to 8 inches of braid in a Coleman Extreme is pretty meager for efficient pickup. Perhaps someone can reference the section of Palmer's book I'm talking about. I'd suggest either 3 or 4 runs of braid running the length of the cooler's bottom with two "T's" combining into the bulkhead fitting.

Palmer talks about manifold configurations in his book as it relates to the flow through the grain bed.

The manifold configuration is only really important for fly sparging. Assuming the OP is following Denny's Cheap'n'easy methods, he would be batch sparging and 6 to 8 inches of braid is perfectly fine.

Palmer talks about manifold configurations in his book as it relates to the flow through the grain bed.

The manifold configuration is only really important for fly sparging. Assuming the OP is following Denny's Cheap'n'easy methods, he would be batch sparging and 6 to 8 inches of braid is perfectly fine.

yeah I'm batch sparging. I believe I saw a post somewhere by Denny saying that'd he experimented with longer braids and didn't notice a difference.

That's true. I used braids as short as 3" up to my current one which is about 24". Tge only reason it's that long is that it's the length I was at for my final experiment and I didn't see any reason to change it! I've used the same bread for 360 batches (as of today!). I don't use a copper tube inside of it or anything like that. Keep in mind that a longer braid doesn't matter since all the draining happens at the outlet. Wort doesn't enter at one end and flow through the braid to the other! The braid is simply a mechanism to keep the outlet from getting clogged. Admittedly, I don't do anything as fancy as connecting it to a hose bard or bulkhead...quite frankly, when I tried those I got worse performance. Based on what you say, it does sound like the constriction at the outlet is your problem. You could try pushing the braid ends in toward the center to open it up, or replace the braid. Or go Cheap'n'Easy like this....

Boy Denny, that thing does look well seasoned! I guess 360 for the hose clamp too.

One statement you made: "Keep in mind that a longer braid doesn't matter since all the draining happens at the outlet. Wort doesn't enter at one end and flow through the braid to the other!" May not be entirely, 100% correct in all instances. If a wheat or rye heavy mash should drain in such a way as to plug a certain amount of the braid, the flow could move to one end of the braid or the other to find an open path to the outlet. I guess that's why I'm thinking more braid would translate to a lesser chance of a stuck or slow sparge.

Boy Denny, that thing does look well seasoned! I guess 360 for the hose clamp too.

One statement you made: "Keep in mind that a longer braid doesn't matter since all the draining happens at the outlet. Wort doesn't enter at one end and flow through the braid to the other!" May not be entirely, 100% correct in all instances. If a wheat or rye heavy mash should drain in such a way as to plug a certain amount of the braid, the flow could move to one end of the braid or the other to find an open path to the outlet. I guess that's why I'm thinking more braid would translate to a lesser chance of a stuck or slow sparge.

OK, here's how I look at the....if the wort can flow in, it can also flow out. So the case you mentioned would only happen if the braid was mainly clogged all along the length. I have never had a stuck runoff in all 360 batches, and as you know, I use a lot of rye malt. Personally, I just don't foresee the scenario happening. Not to mention that I've heard from many people who experienced fewer problems with a shorter braid.